Thursday DADA Lessons
by megaflash
Summary: Alastor Moody's classes are never boring


The room was dark as the fourth year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students shuffled into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. A slight chill permeated the room, forcing students to draw their robes tighter. Professor Alastor Moody was nowhere to be seen.

Before they took their seats, the students pulled out textbooks and lay them on their chairs. They were testing for jinxes, they all started doing this after the entire third row of class had been unable to get up after a particularly nasty sticky charm had been applied to their seats. That had been the second class of term.

After testing their seats, several students sent stinging jinxes into the corners of the room. Class didn't start until Alastor Moody had been discovered from his hiding spot. If they couldn't find him halfway through the class period, he would appear behind his desk.

After the corners had been cleared, most of the students sat down. A Hufflepuff closed the classroom door and checked behind it. Murmurs popped up as everyone wondered where Professor Moody was hiding now.

A Ravenclaw student sent a stinging hex up at the ceiling. The bright pink spell shot to the side before it impacted. Students craned their necks to see Professor Moody standing on the ceiling.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" the professor roared. He crouched as well as he could with one leg and jumped, flipping off the ceiling. He landed in the middle of the room.

"It took you lot eight minutes this time," he grumbled, stomping to the front of the classroom. "Plenty of time for me to do all sorts of nasty stuff."

His electric blue eye landed on the student who had discovered him, "Davis, ten points to Ravenclaw. Few wizards bother checking above them."

Moody began to pace, the _CLUNK_ of his peg leg punctuating his words, "Keep your wands out, today's lesson is a practical. We practiced the stunning spell last time. Today, we'll be working on underpowering and overpowering spells."

A short scramble later, the desks were pushed to the side of the room. The students faced off against each other nervously.

"Not all spells act the same," started Moody, correcting posture and wand grip as he walked among the lines of students. "When underpowered, the Jelly Legs Jinx trips your feet instead of forcing you to dance. However, you can hit multiple targets with the weaker version if you pour more magical energy into it."

"How do we do that?" asked a timid Hufflepuff girl. She shrank back slightly when Moody turned towards her.

"Good question lass. The answer is simple: Intent."

A Ravenclaw raised his hand, "I don't understand Professor."

Moody clunked back up to the front of the classroom, "You have learnt to cast spells by doing an incantation, a wand movement, and willing the spell to happen."

His grizzled face remained impassive as he saw that he had their complete attention, "The incantation helps focus on the effect you want to happen. The wand movement helps draw the magic from your core to power the spell. Finally, your will to cast the spell moves the magic."

With his wand in his left hand, Moody held up his right hand, fingers open. A bright ball of light appeared over his scarred palm. Several children gasped and other grinned.

"The simpler the spell," continued Moody, "the easier it is to cast wandlessly."

His magical eye roamed over the class, while his regular eye remained fixed on the orb, "After many hours of practice casting _Lumos_, I can imagine the effect and use my will to cast the spell without word or wand."

Clenching his fist, the light disappeared. He jabbed his wand up with his left hand, a light brighter than the one he had summoned appearing at the tip. "Of course, using a wand is easier."

He lowered his wand, "The point being, you have to focus on what you want to happen. That is how you over or underpower a spell. Stick with the Jelly Legs Jinx for now."

The students began practicing, Moody watching over them. The sounds of spellcasting filled the air, along with cheers whenever someone was tripped.

After several minutes, a spell flew towards Professor Moody from where the students had been practicing. He spun out of the way and scanned the crowd. They had stopped casting spells at the interruption.

"Davis!" barked Moody, staring at the Ravenclaw.

Davis drew himself up, looked Professor Moody in the eye, and shouted, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Moody's face broke into a grin, "Five points to Ravenclaw, for keeping me on my toes. Would have been ten if you hit me."

Davis sighed in relief that he wasn't being punished.

"Seems you lot have got the idea, lets try a different spell."

Moody conjured cushions around the practice area. The Ravenclaw students groaned in frustration. The Hufflepuff students checked the fluffiness of the pillows.

"Not all spells act the same when under and overpowered. The stunning spell we practiced on Tuesday turns invisible when underpowered. However, it doesn't last as long as a normal strength stunning spell. When overpowered, your target will remain unconscious for much longer."

Practice restarted with Moody now prowling behind the casters. Occasionally, he would offer advice, but mostly he was seeing who would be unnerved the most by him walking behind them.

"Professor," asked the timid Ravenclaw from earlier, "could you put more power into a simpler spell to do more damage?"

Moody stopped beside her, and remembered she was called Vost, "What did you have in mind lass?"

"Well," she started, "My mother taught me a spell that helps encourage you to sleep. She used to cast it on me when I had trouble sleeping. It usually takes a couple minutes to work though."

Moody rubbed his chin as he thought, "It wouldn't be worth putting less power into it, if it takes that long to work. Try overpowering it and see what happens."

Her paired partner perked up, "What are you casting on me?"

"Relax," Vost replied, "It will be like drifting off to sleep."

She twirled her wand and incanted, "_Slumberus Totallum!_"

A wave of magic spread out from her, hitting everyone in the room. Her target flopped over, already snoring. Her classmates followed suit, slumping over asleep.

She spun to face Professor Moody; her face mortified. He was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.

"I'm so sorry," she began, but Moody waved her off.

"You're fine lass," he asserted, focusing on staying awake, "I told you spells do strange things when overpowered. Now go get Madame Pomfrey, she will be able to take care of this."

Vost ran to get the School Nurse, while Moody's good eye closed. His signature magical eye continued to spin in its socket.

**A/N**

**House/Team: Ravenclaw**

**Class Subject: Transfiguration  
**

**Story Category: Standard**

**Prompt: [Action: Casting a sleeping curse]  
**

**Word Count: 1132**


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